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4 killed in Interstate 79 crash

An SUV driver and two of his passengers were huffing as they drove along Interstate 79 and got into a crash that killed all of them, as well as a motorcycle driver, according to state police.

"During the investigation into this incident, it was found that the occupants in Unit #1 had purchased a can of compressed air cleaner and were inhaling the contents as they drove up the interstate," police wrote in a media statement Monday. "The coroner's report reflected that the substance Difluoroethane was found in the system of the three deceased."

Difluoroethane is a colorless gas used in the propellant in computer cleaning spray. Inhaling it can produce an effect similar to alcohol intoxication, police said, and it can lead to cardiac dysrhythmias and sudden death in higher concentrations.

"It sure as heck was at a level sufficient to produce the problems associated with the huffing -- the inhalation of this kind of compound -- namely lightheadedness and, sometimes, disorientation and cardiac arrhythmia," said forensic pathologist Cyril Wecht, who performed the autopsies.

The October crash killed three 18-year-olds in the SUV -- Cullin Frazer and Benjamin Hardy, both of Waynesburg, and Byron Kerr, of Carmichaels.

Also killed was the motorcycle driver, 47-year-old Michael Cohen, of Oshawa, Ontario. Police said no impairing substances were found in his system.

Police said the northbound SUV crossed a grass median and went into southbound traffic, where it hit the motorcycle and a camper near the Ruff Creek exit at about 4:30 p.m. on Oct. 12. The crash near the Washington County-Greene County line caused southbound traffic to be diverted through the grass and into the northbound lanes.

Frazer was a former West Greene High School student, Hardy graduated from Waynesburg Central High School and Kerr was a former student at Carmichaels Area High School.

Three other people in the SUV and a woman on the motorcycle were taken to Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown, W.Va.

"It was crazy. It just all happened so fast," Tom Miller told WTAE Channel 4 Action News in October. He was in the SUV and suffered a broken collarbone. He said he doesn't remember much, "just crawling out of the back, and seeing my friends like that."